Everyone?
by Mikill
Summary: Endgame SPOILERS - missing scene - "We found a way to save them," Bruce supplied quickly, before Thor's self-pity would cut him off again. "We'll bring everyone back." "Everyone?" Thor's voice rumbled after a while. "My people? My brother?" Bruce's throat tightened. He had feared that question.


**SPOILER warning** for everyone who has not seen Endgame yet. If you haven't watched it yet, but would like to at some point, do not read on.

If that does not bother you, **read, enjoy and review** :)

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The moment Rocket Racoon and a rather bulky and green Bruce Banner opened the door, Bruce's upper lip curled and he wrinkled his nose. "What the..."

Rocket interrupted, "Woo! Something died in here." The sickening feeling of revulsion was almost palpable. The air was hot and sticky and it smelled of beer and sweat.

Bruce frowned at his companion before he took some tentative steps inside. "Hello? Thor?"

From another room, they could hear the voice of the God of Thunder. "Are you here about the cable?"

A second later, he walked into view. For a second, both Bruce and Rocket were left speechless, and for the latter that was a rather odd occurrence. It was not the first time a shirtless Asgardian had left his audience thunderstruck, but this time it was far from a pleasing experience.

Thor continued, oblivious to his surroundings. "The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports were all kind of fuzzy- Boys! Oh my God! How have you been?" He tried to pull Rocket into a hug. "Come here, you little rascal!"

Rocket took a step back. "No, I'm good. I'm good. That's not necessary."

Thor smiled. "Hulk, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?"

Their eyes landed on Miek and Korg, who were sitting on a couch, PlayStation controller in hand, playing Fortnite and eating chips.

"Hey, boys!" greeted Bruce.

"Hey guys," came Korg's enthusiastic reply, "long time no see. Beer's on the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously." Then he turned his attention towards the king of New Asgard. "Thor, he's back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again."

Thor's face darkened. "Noobmaster?"

Bruce and Rocket watched in stunned silence as Thor took Korg's headphone and spoke some less than friendly words with Noobmaster69. While they glanced at each other, they knew they were thinking the same thing: Enlisting Thor was going to be a lot harder than expected.

Thor's booming voice brought them back to the present. "So, you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things."

The two Non-Aesir watched Thor using Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer. They reached the silent agreement that Bruce would try his luck first. He gently put a hand on his old friend's shoulder.

"Buddy, you all right?" he asked carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine! Why, don't I look all right?"

"You look like melted ice cream," replied Rocket without missing a beat. When Rocket had to decide between finding things sad or hilarious, he oftentimes decided to go with the latter.

Thor laughed off the comment. "So, what's up?"

Bruce decided to gently ease into the subject. "We need your help. There might be a chance we could fix everything."

"What, like the cable?" When Thor then burped, Bruce was not quite sure whether he was deliberately obtuse to avoid the subject, or if he really did not know because years of alcoholism would not even leave a God undamaged. "Cause that's been driving me bananas for weeks."

Bruce gulped and pressed on. There was no turning back. "Like Thanos."

Thor's smile slowly disappeared, and with it, his generally good mood. He put a shaky hand on Bruce's shoulder and pointed at him. "Don't say that name."

Korg stood up and too off his headphones. "Um, yeah. We don't actually say that name in here."

Bruce looked at Thor, then quietly, but firmly, said, "Please take your hand off me." He brushed away Thor's hand. "Now, I know that... guy might scare you." And boy did he know. He had lost everything to that monster. And all the pain he caused meant nothing to him. Nothing seemed to mean anything to him. He had killed his own daughter as if he did not care at all. The moment he had entered the fight, it had become obvious how Earth's mightiest heroes were nothing more than petulant children to him. He had not even bothered to use one of his Infinity Stones against the Hulk, arguably the strongest Avenger. He had beaten him within a few minutes.

"Why would I be? Why would, why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos' big head off?"

"Umm... Stormbreaker?"

"Now, who's swingin' Stormbreaker?"

Bruce sighed. "I get it. You're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself. You wanna know who helped me out of it?"

"I don't know. Is it... Natasha?"

Bruce winced, but pressed on. "It was you. You helped me."

Thor looked out the window, still holding his beer. "Why don't you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth." He dropped onto the sofa. "The ones that are left, anyway."

Bruce took one last deep breath. He would just cut to the heart of it, tell Thor their plan. Because this was getting them nowhere. "I think we can bring them back."

Thor's reaction was not what they had expected. "Stop. Just, stop... I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I'm fine, okay? We're fine, aren't we?"

Korg enthusiastically agreed. "Nah, all good here, mate!"

"So, whatever it is that you're offering, we're not into it, don't care, couldn't care less. Goodbye."

"We need you, pal."

But Thor just shook his head and ignored Bruce. And Bruce was running out of things to say. It was a good thing then that he had not come alone.

Rocket decided to join the conversation at that moment. "There's beer on the ship."

"What kind?" asked Thor.

Rocket and Bruce grinned at each other. "Whatever kind you want. Are you in?"

Thor looked pensive. Then he stood up and motioned his two friends to follow him outside. "What do you mean, fix everything?"

"We found a way to travel back in time," Bruce supplied quickly, before Thor's self-pity would cut him off again. "We collect the stones in the past. We bring them into our present and put them in a new gauntlet. We bring everyone back."

Thor started to walk off, through the village. Occasionally, he would nod at someone who greeted him. Rocket and Bruce looked at each other, before they trailed after him.

"Everyone…" Thor's voice rumbled after a while. He turned around to face the two and the hope in those mismatching eyes were what Bruce had feared most. "My people?"

Bruce's throat tightened and he had to gulp a few times to even manage a few simple words. He had feared that it would come to that. "Everyone who disappeared after Thanos' snap." Everyone had lost a great deal through Thanos. But Thor had undoubtedly lost the most. And unfortunately, not through the snap.

"My brother?"

"He- he…" Bruce had never particularly liked Loki. But his feelings towards the man had grown into something that could best be described as "not hatred" during their shared time on the Statesman. The Loki on the Statesman had been quite different from the one he had met in New York. His brain had definitely not given Bruce the impression of a bag full of cats. Quite the opposite. At times, he had even understood why Thor was so fond of his little brother. And Thor was one of his best friends. A friend who had lost everything and was now looking at him with the last shreds of hope he could master. And he was about to take even that from him. "I'm sorry. He was not killed through the snap… We will not be able to bring him back."

Thor closed his eyes and his shoulders sank. He looked as defeated as he had on the day of the battle. He turned away from them and began walking. He walked away from New Asgard and towards the cliffs. He stopped right at the edge, staring into the distance.

"But you said we will be travelling through time. Why can't we save him? I cannot visit the past and not save my brother. I cannot let him die again." His voice had grown unsteady. "My brother. My mother. Father… And my people. The people who disappeared were only a small number. A fraction of Asgard's former glory. Hela had already killed half of my people long before... Then he slaughtered half of what remained. And then… then came the snap."

"I know it's hard-"

Thor swirled around, defeat turning into anger. "You have absolutely no idea! You have absolutely no idea what my people have gone through. Look around you. We have been thousands! Now we are merely a few handfuls!" The clouds drew together, thunder could be heard in the distance.

"Hey!" Rocket hissed. "Don't let your anger at the world out on us!"

"So many lives lost. A woman- she had lost her home and her husband through Hela," Thor continued, and Bruce was unsure if he had even heard Rocket through his emotions. "Then, on the ship, she gave birth to a little boy. She only got to hold him in her arms for a few seconds before he turned to ashes."

It took all Bruce had not to lose his composure as well. He had to stay rational. "But this has happened everywhere. Mothers and fathers losing their children. Children losing their parents. We can bring some of them back. We might not be able to restore that woman's home or her husband, but we can give her her child back. We can return a lot of children to their parents."

"So, we can save everyone, but not my people? Not my brother? Not my father? How much of a failure am I that everyone gets their loved ones back but me?"

"You have done absolutely nothing wrong," Rocket said. "We all feel responsible for what happened in some way. But no one is to blame for this but Thanos. Don't shoulder the blame for something you are not to blame for. We all did what we could. We all-," Rocket's voice wavered, and he let his gaze wander to the horizon. "We all tried to protect our families. And we all failed. In this, you are not alone. Gamora – do you remember her? – Thanos killed her before the snap. We cannot bring her back either. And she was a fifth of my family. A fifth of everything I've ever had. A fifth I will never get back. And those other four fifths? Killed by the snap." Bruce could not see Rocket's face, but the pain in his voice was gut-wrenching. He stayed silent for a long time, lost in his own thoughts. "Be grateful you still have enough people to rebuild Asgard. That you have people who believe in you. The ones who live here, they might not be much, but they are still so much more than what I've ever had. They still need you. And be grateful that there are idiots out there who care enough about you to fly halfway across the globe just because they want you by their side. You have lost people, but never think that you are alone."

The thunder ceased and it began to rain. "Why can't we save everyone?" There was no energy behind the words. Defeat had taken over again.

Bruce was glad for the turn towards the more practical aspects of the problem. He could answer the question from a scientific point of view. The ethical side was not one he was well equipped to handle. "The moment we step into the past, we create another universe, drastically different from our own. If you want to see your people again, you could stay in that other universe. But you have to know that this universe will still exist… _Your Loki_ will still be dead…. Your mother and father as well. And your people – the ones who live right here – they would never see you again. Living in this other dimension might bring you comfort, but you would be living a lie. It would help no one. And I think, deep down, you already know that."

Thor closed his eyes. Through the rain, it was hard to tell if he had simply grown quiet or had started to cry.

"We cannot change history. Not in any significant way. Everything that would change time too much or that would lead to a paradox – us never going back in time, for example – creates a new universe."

"But what if we just take my brother from the Statesman? He can fake his own death. You won't know. I won't know, not back then anyways. Things will happen just as they did."

Bruce gave this some thought. Then he shook his head. In theory it might work. But when would they take him? When Thanos was already on the ship? It would be suicide. They would risk not just their own lives, but the lives that they were about to save, half of the universe. "We cannot save your brother. We can only reverse the snap. Will you help us?"

It took Thor a long time to answer, but when he did, his voice was steady, and his eyes determined. "Yes."

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**A.N. **I loved Endgame, but I hated what they did with Thor.

I am 100% convinced a conversation like that must have happened at some point with several characters. I cannot imagine that the characters who have lost someone and do not understand time travel the way Tony and Bruce do would not try to save more than just those snapped out of existence.

What did you think of Endgame? What did you think of this oneshot? Do you think a conversation like this happened off-screen?

Let me know with a review :)


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